Meter box



May 8, 1923.

S. FLOURNOY METER-BOX Filed Feb. 13, 1922 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented ay 8, 1923.

SAMUEL I. FLOURNOY, OF

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, AssIGNon'ro WALTER: s. "D'ICKE'Y;

- OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI. i

' ETER Box.

Application filed-February 13, 1922, Serial; No. 536,285

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, SAMUEL I. FLoURNoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at KansasCity, in the county of Jacksonand State of Missouri, have invented certain figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a novel form of meter box particularly designed to be em'- bedded orsunk into the ground to constitute a box or housing for the protection of fluid meters and the invention is particularly applicable for use in connectionwith water meters. I

Water meters are usually maintained out side the premises orbuildings so thatthey will be available for inspection at all times and they are usually contained in a casing commonly known as a meter box. or cover for the casing is usually flush with the ground and in view of the fact that it is readily accessible, it sometimes happens that, an unauthorized person removes the cover to tamper with the meter, or as sometimes happens, the meter box cover is removed, allowing dirt and rubbish to enter the meter box or permitting it to fill up with water and surface drains with the obvious disadvantages.

It is the primary purpose of my invention to provide an lmproved meter'box.

cover which may be normally" fastened to.

the meter box with an appropriate locking means controllable only by a 'special'key to, be in the possession of'authorized. persons only,-'so that the lock cannot be moved to unlocking position with the ordinary tools or with an ordinary key, socket wrench or the like.

The peculiarly novel features of the invention will be apparent by reference to the following description in connection with] the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through a meter box, showing the meter therein, the removable lid being shown in edge elevation.

The lid Fig. 2'iis' a'bottom plan YiBWIOf the meter box cover ring-f andthe lid: associatedtherewith, the. lock being shown in lo'ckedpo: sitiom i Fig,3 an enlarg d: fragmentary, longi flf i tudinal, sectional. view [through the lid, showing the locking mechanism inedge elel g, p v F s- 4 if? smentary;iiierspe' iew" I of the key and the locking elements re- Fig. 5 is" a fragmentary perspecti've, v ew of the cover ring and the lid, 1

' 1 designates the servic e pipe which may be connected to the 'mainin the usual ,ma 7 ner and'in the line is ameter 2," to bez rog-g tected by thebox. The box is shown-"5 21s.. comprising a cylinder-[3,having openings' fand 5,; through. which th two ,lbranchesfl of the main may pass in the usual way, Located upon the upperedge of the cyla inder 3 is a coverring or collarfi',substan-jf, tially conical and having peripheral flange? with lugs 8, whichmay'bear against the inner face otthe cylinder 3 so that the ring or collarwill be properly centered with; respect to the cylinder 3. i

The. upper endof the collar or r ing, 6, receives the v,cover platej9, which is, prefl' erably slightly greater in diameter than the upper endlOof the ring so thatit will actf asa watershed. I p 5 i The cover plate 9-is provided withlocat ingprojections or lugs 11, whichare adapt} ed to engage corresponding notches 12 in the upper edge of'the ring, theflugs' 1l and notches 12 being crosswise of the wall. of the ring so that when'the lugs 11 engage the notches' lQ. the'cover'plate- 9 cannotfbe i turned about its axis. This is important because the inter-engaging of the lugs with the notches prevents liabilityof thelo'ck be; ing worked loose. 1 The coverplate" 9 is provided witha countersunk port-ion or recess 13, in its top face and a recess 14 in its bottom face. Adjacent to the recesses are depending bracket lugs 15 and 16, which are provided with slots 17 and 18, which receive a lugsupporting bar 19, as will be clearly seen in Fig. 3. 1 v l Resting upon the bar 19 is a latching lever having a tongue portion 20 and a finger 21 at substantially right angles there v to. At the angle of the latching bar is a pivot projection: 22, which engages the opentom ofthe'rec'ess 13. Theupper end of the shaft isprovide'd with a polygonal portion 26, preferably triangular in cross section, to

' receive the triangular socket 27 of the key 28. I prefer to construct the portion 26 tri angular as it apparently resists the applicasocket'key to turn it.

tion of wrenches, pliers and conventional keys and because t will require a speclal The freeend of the finger 23 provided I with a notch-engaging projection 29, to engage the serrated portion 30' on thelatch bar 20. Th free end of the latch bar for env gagement with the under side of the edge 1 of the collar 6 is slightly chamfered, as.

at 31; a

Thelatchimembers and 23 can be applied to the cover plate 9 by introducing the projection 22.into the socket 1i and the shaft 24 throughthe opening 25, as shown in Fig.

3, and then sliding the bar 19 through the openings 17 and 18 in the lugs 15 and 16, when the lock or latch will be assembled. The collar 6 will becentered with respect to the cylinder 3 by, the lugs 8. Then dirt or concrete will be tamped about it so that it will have the position shown in Fig. 1. The cover plate will then be placed on the upper edge 10 of'the collar (Sand turned until the lugs 11 drop into the notches 12,

' whereupon the cover plate 9 will be held against further rotative movement with respect tothe collar. The operator will then apply the key, turning it so that the finger .23 willride over the serrated edge of the lock lever 20 to cause the portion 31 to engage under'the edge 10 of the collar 6, the projection 29 being maintained in engagement with the serrated edge so that it will not ordinarily be moved out of engagement therewith by vibrating the lid. The lid will then be securely fastened to the collar so 30, the edge of the finger 23 will strike against the inner edge of the hooked-shaped arm or projection 21 so as to swing the lock member 20 out of engagement with the inner wall of the cone-shaped ring or collar 6. Then the lid can be taken off. It will be observed that the device is in expensive to manufacture, simple in con struction and adapted to efliciently hold the cover or lidin place so that it cannot be re moved by unauthorized persons and thereby it affords an efiicient protection fo'rthe meter 2.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A meter box cover comprising a disk having depending members on its under side provided with transverse slots, a bar in the slots, the cover having a recess facing the bar and an opening spaced from the recess'but also facing the bar, a pivoted lever having a trunnion fitting into the recess and having a meter box engaging end, a projection at right angles to the lever, and a swinging finger having a trunnion projecting through the opening in the cover and provided with a key-engaging portion, the finger being movable in one direction to cause,

I the locking leverto move into functional position and'movable in another direction to cause the lever to move in a non-functional position, the finger and lever being held in co-operative positions by the bar.

2. A meter boX cover having depending projections providedwith transverse slots, a removable bar in said slots, a locking lever resting on the bar and having a trunnion projecting into a recess in the cover, and an actuating finger for the locking lever resting on the bar and having a trunnion projecting'through the cover with a key-engaging end whereby when the finger is moved inone direction, itwill move the lever into functional position and when moved in an opposite direction, it will move the lever out of functional position.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

SAMUEL I. FLOURNOY. 

